Sri Lanka: Peace and Reconciliation

Karunyan Arulananthan, M.D
Refugee Health Advisor

(Date: Mar 1995)

I want to thank the organizers of this conference for inviting me to
present my perspective on peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

I visited Jaffna along with two others from Los Angeles on a
medical mission in March 1995. Jaffna, the city of my childhood,
was at that time encircled by government armed forces, enforcing
an embargo on medicine, food, fertilizers and other necessities.
Fishing was banned in the seas around Jaffna, depriving the
population of their main source of protein. For years it had been
subjected to constant aerial bombing and random shelling. There
was no telephone, no electricity, no gasoline. However, despite
this and the massive destruction of homes, temples and churches,
and the strangling of the economy, there was still a functioning
community. I watched a cricket game, attended a sports meet,
and worshipped at my old church. I visited hospitals, refugee
camps, feeding centers, and met old friends, relatives and other
citizens of Jaffna.

Jaffna at that time has 250,000 internally displaced people. The
hospitals were short of medicines and personal, and malnutrition
was evident among the more vulnerable sections of the
population.

This was in March 1995. Since then the people have been
subjected to intensified aerial artillery assault and even tighter
economic blockade under the cover of a news blackout. Almost
the whole population has been displaced, re-displaced,
"re-re-displace," and traumatized.

Many Tamils have now returned to Jaffna and are living in what is
left of their homes, but they still lack basic necessities. The
situation is most critical in the Wanni district where the
government has practically severed the flow of essential supplies
into the area. The children in Wanni are starving. "The Leader" a
newspaper in Colombo, reported NGO workers estimating that
60-70% of the children in the area as being malnourished. Other
reports describe a bleak picture of drought, shortage of drinking
water, non-availability of medicines and vaccines, all because of
the embargo. The east too suffers from the long years of war. The
International Red Cross reports that malnutrition is rampant.

In short, there is a massive humanitarian disaster currently
occurring in the north east of Sri Lanka. It is not adequately
acknowledged - actually it's being ignored.

A nutritional survey of Jaffna's children carried out in 1993 by Dr.
Sivarajah, a time when conditions were much better, showed that
31.4% of children studied were stunted, an indication of chronic
starvation. This and other data are published in the book,
'VICTIMS OF WAR IN SRI LANKA," which gives very
disturbing information about the physical and psychological health
status of the population in the conflict zone prior to 1994. I do
not have any contemporary data, but given what has happened
since then, the situation must be much worse.

Long-term starvation, ill health and the absence of medical help
are slow destroyers of communities that are often recognized as
humanitarian disasters. Usually it is bombing and killing that catch
people's attention, and the people in northern Sri Lanka have had
their fill of these too. Instead of describing it in words, I have a
brief video which will communicate the reality better.

"3-minute video of Navaly church bombing and Exodus (edited)"

While the north-east of Sri Lanka has been the most devastated
and brutalized, the south also feels the effects of a war fought in
this poor, third world country. Surveys have shown extensive
malnutrition among preschool Sinhala children, and there was
considerable international media exposure of the Central Bank
bombing in Colombo, which was too gruesome.

At the core of this tragedy is the war. It impoverishes the
Sinhalese and destroys the Tamils, but continues to persist.
Everyone accepts that there is little hope for change until the
political problems that cause the war are solved. Promises of a
political settlement have been made to the Tamils for close to 40
years and they continue to be made, but nothing has happened.

Why is this conflict so intractable? Fundamentally, the war is
about power. [The constitution has concentrated all the power in
the hands of the majority Sinhala community, which has used its
power to brutalize and decimate the minority Tamils. The Tamil
community has revolted against this arrangement, an arrangement
which, if not changed, will leave them powerless, deprived of
separate identity, and without their traditional homelands in the
north-east.] Initially they used a parliamentary approach to secure
relief. When this was spurned by the Sinhala community militant
Tamil groups resorted to extra-parliamentary methods. The
Sinhala community, which now has total power over the Tamil
community, has refused to let the Tamils have their own share of
power.

These are the basic issues, and around these are various
arguments, denials and pieces of propaganda, and even deeply
held belief, for which many people have died and are dying. The
war is intractable because power is never relinquished easily.

Alluding to the Irish situation, Senator Mitchell commented that "if
the focus remains on the past then the past will become the
future." I would hope that we can incorporated the spirit of this
sentiment in our deliberations, so that we try to understand the
present realities in order to bring about a better future.

The Sri Lankan government enjoys international legitimacy not
available to Tamil groups, including the LTTE. It has told the
world that it has a strategy to end the war. It is termed "peace
through war."

The four key elements of this strategy are:
1.the elimination of the LTTE - the only viable Tamil
opposition
2.the winning of the hearts and minds of the Tamils
3.strict press censorship and information control
4.the devolution of some powers to the Tamils living in
north-east

Perhaps peace could be a reality if all these elements could
succeed together. But the question is will it?

The government and the military have already told the Sinhala
people and the world that the LTTE is defeated with the
occupation of Jaffna and this victory has already been celebrated.
But the LTTE does not seem defeated, as recent events have
indicated. I would characterize the current military situation to be
similar to that during the time of the Indian Peace Keeping Force
(IPKF). The IPKF was unable to eliminate the LTTE despite
using close to 100,000 troops. Further, the Indians were initially
welcomed with garlands and then hated within a short time. This
dynamic is intrinsic to population control by military occupation in
the presence of guerilla war and there is no reason to believe that
the experience with the Sri Lankan army occupation will be any
different.

Further, Tamils see little substance in the government's program
to win their hearts and minds as the government continues to be
insensitive to the people's suffering. It persistently refuses to admit
the true nature of the humanitarian tragedy facing the Tamils. The
government's policy of totally controlling relief and the relief
agencies working in northern Sri Lanka furthers Tamil distrust
because the government selectively provides relief to those in the
government areas while denying relief to those outside it. Thus the
government is using food and relief as a weapon of war. The
government's political and military considerations have taken
precedence over the health and welfare of the people. This is
rather like the treatment of Kurds by Iraq and the southern
Sudanese tribes by the government of Sudan - not exactly models
of how to build trust.

Tamils also continue to be the main victims of human rights
violations in Sri Lanka to the point that many feel that just being
Tamil is a crime in Sri Lanka. There has unfortunately been a
tendency in the west to understate the extent of human rights
violations by the government a point clearly made by Amnesty
International when it criticized the U.S State Department's report
on the human rights practices in Sri Lanka. To quote from
Amnesty International, "a climate of impunity still prevails with
very few members of the government's forces being held
accountable for their crimes," and it goes on to state that the
report "underplays the gravity of the human rights crisis that Sri
Lanka experienced and creates and unduly favorable impression
of the Sri Lankan Government's human rights performance; A
reader of the report could not be aware that even with the human
rights initiatives taken by the government, Sri Lanka still ranks
second highest in the world after Sudan in its total number of
"disappearances" recorded during 1995."

I believe the underlying problem is more basic. Any government
dependent on the Sinhala Buddhist constituency and a Sinhala
BUDDHIST army cannot win the hearts and minds of the Tamils.
However, the government does not recognize these and seems
sadly to have begun to believe in its own propaganda, as
conquerors often do.

Thus, as far as the hearts and minds program is concerned, most
Tamils are convinced the war is against them as a people, and not
just against the LTTE. They may be suppressed by terror, but
their hearts are not won over.

To the Tamils, including those opposed to the LTTE, peace
through war translates into peace through subjugation. They see
government's policy as a continuation of the same policy that gave
rise to the armed struggle over 20 years ago. This is true even of
the anti-LTTE Tamil groups who are actively collaborating with
the army as auxiliaries and informers.

The third element of the peace through war program is the
Draconian press censorship and information control, the existence
of which is in itself a proof of the fact that there is information that
must be hidden from the world. Absence of reliable information in
a situation such as in Sri Lanka will never result in the climate that
is needed to bring peace. It only succeeds in distorting the true
nature of the problem. While the Tamils are beaten and then
blamed for disturbing the existing order, the West barely
understands the big fundamental problem alluded to by Dr. Little
yesterday. I am referring to the problem of majority Sinhala
community whose identity combines the race, religion, language
and land in exclusive terms. It has no word in its language for
ethnic pluralism within the Sinhala state and its belief of what the
country should be is made into law. The Tamils have had to
endure living with a majority community such as this. The rest of
the world has been unable to understand such a phenomenon and
I am thankful for Dr. Little for finding words to express it. The
fourth element of the peace plan is the devolution proposal.
Politically, the government, despite its conquest of Jaffna, does
not seem able to convince the Sinhalese to accept this plan.
Recently the leading Buddhist monks expressed their opposition
to the package to the American Ambassador. These prelates
want a military solution to the problem. Because of the
considerable confusion that exist on this important aspect of the
peace plan as shown by yesterday's discussion the organizers of
the meeting have asked Dr. Shakuntala Rajasingham, a
constitutional lawyer, for her comments on this subject and she
will follow my talk.

In essence, the status of these four elements make clear that
current government's approach is the same as the failed policies
of the previous governments. President Kumaratunge, whatever
her intentions, and hopes might have been, is now trapped by old
policies bent on control of the Tamils by force and the
acceptance of what Dr. Little has called Sinhala Buddhist
suzerinity. In my opinion peace through war program is doomed.

Instead, this program has contributed to the present situation, that
is highly unstable, militarily, politically and economically. The
longer it lasts the more intractable it will become. It is inevitable
that the government will widen the military operation and that the
economy will suffer even more. Thus, not only the Tamils, but the
whole country, will have to face the consequences of this policy
of peace through war. I remain convinced that there is a better
way of assuring peace with justice.

Even if the government's policy is seen as flawed, the international
communities tend to ignore this, as their approach is
overshadowed by their perception of the LTTE as an
authoritarian, undemocratic organization that uses terror. This
view of the LTTE has been vigorously promoted by the Sri
Lankan Government. LTTE justifies its methods as being
necessary in times of war - the only situation in which it has
existed. Recently it was revealed that assassinations attributed to
the LTTE were indeed carried out by Sinhala hit men
participating in the Sinhala political intrigue.

The antipathy towards the LTTE also perhaps stems from the
concerns of governments about the LTTE's claim for Tamil
self-determination and its goal of a separate state. However, the
LTTE has repeatedly called for international mediation and
declared its willingness to consider a constitutional arrangement in
which the Tamils can meaningfully share power. These
declarations have been brusquely dismissed by the government
and the international community. This is unfortunate, because this
dismissal serves to foreclose a real opportunity for peace.

Whether one likes it or not, we cannot ignore the reality that the
many Tamils see the LTTE as the only effective protector of their
interests, despite its human rights record and other actions that
have contributed to its negative perception. What the Tamils, who
are tired of the war want above all is for the government to enter
into sincere discussions with the LTTE, with the help of a third
party. There can be no peace without the participation of the
LTTE.

What then is the way out? I believe that it is time that the
international community, and particularly the United States, take a
fresh look at the situation. As we search for new strategies I
remain convinced that the peace will not be possible without
international mediation. The dynamics within the country will only
promote more war. A major international initiative is needed to
deal with both the humanitarian and the peace dimensions of the
conflict, as was done in Bosnia. The process of resolving this
conflict requires nations, not war. As a citizen of the US, I would
hope that America would lead this initiative towards peace.

The State Department has repeatedly affirmed its support for
negotiatedi settlement within a united Sri Lanka. Its recognition of
the risk to the minorities given the historical experiences of the
Tamils is reflected in its policy of not lethal weapons to the
government. Thus, the US policy seems to suggest a strategy
opposed to war as the cornerstone of achieving peace. However,
recent reports, including the most recent by Mark Kaufman of the
Philadelphia Inquirer that the US is training army personnel in Sri
Lanka are disconcerting. This follows the permission given to
Israel to sell supersonic bombers with US engines to Sri Lankan
government. One also worries whether the favorable treatment
given to the human rights record of the Sri Lankan government is
an indication the free movement of people, and the adequate and
free flow of essential necessities for the people caught in war-torn
areas. The NGOs and other relief organizations must be allowed
freedom to function in response to the people's needs. I endorse
the recommendations of the US committee for refugees and hope
that they will be implemented.

In summary, it is my contention that meaningful change for
long-term peace will not arise from within Sri Lanka. A massive
humanitarian disaster will only be avoided and peace established
by diplomatic intervention similar to that in Bosnia.

I want to end my remarks by appealing to my Sinhala brethren to
join hands with all those concerned to bring about a negotiated
settlement to this war with the help of an international mediator.
Such a process is in everyone's interest.